Rocket Stack Rank™ (RSR) aims to help casual SF fans find and discuss great original short fiction. It reviews science fiction and fantasy short stories, novelettes, and novellas, and publishes articles of interest to fans.

Pro: It’s not clear that Bit actually drowns during these sessions; he just holds his breath until he sees visions. What he’s doing is so dangerous that the whole story is full of tension; every trip to the bottom of the lake could be his last, and his lack of fear makes the tension stronger because we know he’s not really alert to the danger.

Kal doesn’t seem very affectionate with Bit until the very last, and we have lots of hints that he fears her, so it’s not a huge surprise that he’s willing to kill her when the lake coaxes him to do so. In fact, given he was just five when he was taken from his family when she "bought" him, it's surprising he doesn't harbor more resentment of her.

It’s an open question whether she was truly jealous of him or merely afraid that the lake was pursuing its own agenda. We don’t know what it was telling her in her own visits to the bottom, but given that she cancelled appointments, one might guess it had quit talking to her at all.

Con: Bit is a rather passive protagonist. At the start he simply does what Kal tells him, and at the end he simply obeys the lake. And he never once questions whether it's telling him the whole truth.

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Once a month, on the 15th, this blog posts groups of rated stories. Casual SF fans with only a few hours free can (1) use our rating, time estimate and blurb to ⚑flag a few stories to read; then for each story (2) click the title if it's a link or the Issue link to access, borrow, or purchase individual back issues with the stories; (3) read the story in an app, browser, or printed form; (4) click the 🔎︎Reviews link to see what other people think; (5) click the 🚀︎Review link for RSR's mini-review; then (6) ★rate the story so it'll appear in the ⚑★My Ratings page for use when they plan award nominations.

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Note: Authors eligible for the Astounding Award are identified with a 1 or 2 superscript for their year.